


overture

by pureblood_whovian



Series: daffodils [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Origin Story, Pre-Series, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 07:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7213522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pureblood_whovian/pseuds/pureblood_whovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>how the Circle began, for better or worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	overture

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea if this fits in with canon but roll with it.

Lucian, his mother tells him, means light. You are my little shining light, Lucian.

Even when she leaves to become a Iron Sister he still believes her, still tries to shine. But it is hard, so hard, when all the other Shadowhunter children are faster, more intelligent, more handsome. Lucian falls behind them all, watching them shine from afar.

Valentine Morgenstern burns the brightest of them all. Perhaps it is fitting, given his namesake. Lucian has never seen anyone like Valentine before, someone so confident in their own existence. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Valentine has a great future ahead of him.

Which is why Lucian is stunned when Valentine befriends him.

"Me?" gapes Lucian. "You me to sit with you?" Valentine barks out a laugh, his handsome features gleaming.

"Yes, you, Lucian. Will that be a problem?"

Lucian stares at him. Looks at the ease on Valentine's face, the charisma that just seems to flow out of him; his polar opposite in every way. And he shakes his head no, almost tripping over his feet to go join Valentine at the circular table.

There are already people sitting there at the table when they arrive, two boys and a girl. Valentine slides into a chair like it was his own throne. He gestures for Lucian to come sit next to him, and Lucian does, a little hesitantly.

Three new faces stare back at him. 

The youngest boy must be Hodge Starkweather, thinks Lucian. Everyone knows of Hodge, the scrawny little boy who worships the very ground Valentine walks on. Lucian recognises the elder boy as Robert Lightwood, the boy who could hardly bear his first mark. The girl must be Maryse Trueblood, the one whose brother betrayed his oaths for a mundane girl.

They form an odd group, friends out of neccessity.

Valentine raises his eyebrow at them. "Well?" he says. "Aren't you all going to introduce yourselves to Lucian here?"

There are faint murmurs from around the table. Robert eyes Lucian; Lucian has always been scared of him the most. Despite his weak appearance and his equally weak will, Robert Lightwood is colder and crueller than he seems. 

Maryse regards him with a much more obvious distaste. "Didn't your mother leave your family to become an Iron Sister, Graymark?" she asks, a cruel glint in her eyes. She glances at Valentine when she says it, searching for some kind of approval. Lucian swallows his fury down.

"Didn't your brother leave your family to marry a mundane, Trueblood?" he snaps back. Maryse's face turns absolutely furious, comically so. It's almost like a game they're all playing; there's no doubt that none of them actually like each other. They're all just waiting to stab each other in the back.

Valentine just laughs. "Now, now children. Let's not fight." His easy smile turns a little dangerous as he gives Maryse a significant look. "Play nice."

Maryse huffs. "I don't see why I should have to play nice with a stray." But she obeys the new rules of the game, withdraws her attack. 

"Aren't we all strays?" muses Robert. Maryse directs her killer glare at him and he flinches. "Or not, maybe we're not all strays."

Valentines holds a silencing hand up. Lucian watches, transfixed, at the way the simple gesture silences the group, stops the game mid-play. "Now hold on, Robert," he says, slowly. "I quite like the sound of that. Valentine's little group of strays."

Starkweather titters. He's a minor player, a pawn in the grand scheme. "That's a great name, Valentine," he gushes. He gasps and straightens up. "Maybe we could use that for the name of our group?!"

Lucian's not sure what group he means. As far as he can see, the people gathered in front of him are barely acquaintances, let alone a group. 

"No way," snaps Maryse. "I am not a stray."

"What about the Circle?" blurts Lucian. "As a name, I mean," he clarifies when four blank faces stare back at him. "You could name your group, whatever it is, the Circle."

Valentine looks at Lucian curiously. "What made you think of that?"

Squirming under Valentine's suddenly invasive gaze, Lucian shrugs. "I don't know," he mumbles truthfully. He has no idea why the name popped into his head. "The table is a circle-" Maryse snorts- "and circles are nice shapes, I guess? Don't they symbolise eternity, or something?" 

There is a silence. Lucian is about to open his mouth to apologise (he's not sure for what, maybe for interrupting the game) before Valentine smiles again.

"I like it. The Circle."

This is when the Circle first begins. Despite all the terrible things that follow, Lucian cannot say he truly regrets it.

**Author's Note:**

> idek what this is???? it's basically just me repeating some weird 'game' metaphor over and over??? my only defence is that i just had a lot of feelings abt luke garroway and here we are...i'm [@faeriemeliorn](www.faeriemeliorn.tumblr.com)!!


End file.
